Thursday, January 27, 2011

Update: 'Ride it Out'

I am happy to report an update to my story "Ride it Out," which came out in today's paper.

In my story, Michelle Thomasik (pictured) was cut off from her food stamp benefits in a bureaucratic whirlwind. Food stamp users have been facing a lot of headaches lately because high demand has led to backlogs and other problems. However, when I told Arturo Serrano, manager of El Paso County food assistance and family Medicaid, Michelle's story, he was eager to help.

And it turns out he made the difference for her. This is a verbatim excerpt from what Michelle e-mailed me today: "I wanted to let you know that I did receive my january benefits in full today...yay!! Arturo really did take the reigns and made it happen quickly."